Every great religious tradition has ideas about how the Holy is present. Christian teaching sometimes lists the orthodox ways God is revealed and how prayer works. These are good things. However, if we align too tightly to particulars, we may lose the sense of God's mystery which may be essential to a thriving faith. This song is an effort to explore with young people around the campfire some of the ways we might experience God.

The lyric sheet product is a chord chart with lyrics and chords. The lead sheet product bundles lead sheet, congregational melody line and songleader's guide. This song is licensed via OneLicense.net, CCLI and Worldmaking.net. This song is part of Richard Bruxvoort Colligan's intergenerational camp song album, "Branching Out: Neo Camp Songs." Resilience, not happiness. Nothing wrong with being happy, but if that's the only goal for our kiddos, we will be forming grown-ups who understand seasons of unhappiness as failure and be unprepared for inevitable losses in a mature life of faith. Many outdoor ministry settings happen around woods, so this uses a tree's growth rings in the forest as a metaphor for how each person's stories is embedded in our daily life. Learn More

A gentle and soulful prayer to be open and receptive.  A simple and repetitive lyric, close to a chant, with a hauntingly beautiful melody and a lovely descant.

From Brian McLaren:  "This was another older song that I rewrote during my sabbatical.  It attempts to take prayer out of its box, and let a more mature contemplative spirituality invade and enrich all of our lives, so that we truly "pray without ceasing."  I'm especially happy about the line, "Death is my life praying" (along with the reference to death in "Praise to the One") because I think we need to get more comfortable with the reality of death, to integrate it into our spiritual lives, and to stop reducing it to an enemy.  It is, like all profound things, both an enemy and a friend."

From CMP: Brian McLaren was on a road Sabbatical for the first 8 months of 2016.  During this time away from the grind of constant travel and preparation for live events Brian wrote, rewrote, compiled, and recorded demos (not finished studio recordings) of 21 songs.  9 of these demos are currently available here on the CMP site, and we are in the process of creating lead sheets and piano arrangements for them.  If you would like to purchase this entire collection of Brian's demo's, lyrics, and some notes he wrote about each song (21 songs for $18), please email Bryan Sirchio, CMP Lead Designer, and he will send you a link you can use to purchase Brian's entire collection.

A hymn exploring the mystery of God and how we name this Mystery. Learn More

A new song written by Emma Ceurvels and Bryan Sirchio (Emma is Bryan's daughter) based on Romans 8:28. This beautiful song proclaims the simple but powerful truth that God's Grace can bring blessing and beauty and goodness out of even the most painful chapters of our lives. This song works as a congregational song, an anthem, and eventually a choral arrangement will be provided as well. At this point the video is the only product related to this song, but a piano arrangement and lead sheet are in the works and will be posted as soon as possible. Learn More

This gorgeous chorus from Christopher Grundy is a poetic invitation to sing the soul's deepest yearnings and longings for union with the Divine.  We have a feeling this one's going to be used widely.  It could be done in a variety of styles and tempos and used both in worship contexts and beyond (another potential great camp song).

From singer/songwriter Tracy Howe: "A song celebrating and cultivating intimacy with the Holy Spirit." Learn More

This song proclaims the simple truth that the Divine is too big and vast to be contained by any one name or concept or even theology.  A beautiful reminder that God will always be more than our ability to comprehend or describe the Holy One.

For those for whom the word/image "King" is problematic, the word "Source" can be inserted there with the composers' consent.  We've listed the lyric this way in the second verse of the song on the sheet music even though the audio file uses "King" both times.

This song was written to go with the "Day 3" Scriptures and Themes of the 2018 "Beyond Belief" Outdoor Ministries Camp curriculum published by Chalice Press. The theme for the day is "What If We Hope?," and the Scripture is the story of a man's friends bringing a sick friend to Jesus for healing and cutting a hole in the roof in order to get through the crowd." This song is simple, accessible, but layered with meaning and will be useful in many different contexts, from Church camps and retreats to Sunday morning worship. Learn More

A hauntingly beautiful melody and poetic lyrics that can be used as a lament, a prayer of longing for deeper union and response to God, and that ends with a resolve to "lay our armour down." 

Note:  The sheet music for this song is in a key that is significantly lower than the artist's recording in order to make the range more accessible for congregational singing.  If you purchase the sheet music and would like it also in the original key, please contact CMP and we will send it to you at no additional charge.

This song was written specifically with church youth campers in mind and as part of a package of songs that go along with the Scripture texts and themes for Chalice Press's 2017 "Branching Out" curriculum. But it works in lot of other contexts as well. Easy to play, easy to sing, and a simple prayer to be able to hear the voice and leading of the Divine. Learn More

Another gorgeous and soulful song of lament and longing by the Many. The lyrics were written by The Many's primary lyricist Lenora Rand, and the music by Lenora's husband Gary and daughter Hannah. This amazing family of co-writers and artists is blessing CMP and the Church with some of the best new worship music to be found. Taking it's cue from Jesus' cry on the cross from Psalm 22, this song taps into our experience of God's seeming absence in times of great struggle and pain, yet leans toward hope and faith and healing. Perfect for Lent and Holy week of course, but these themes are with us always and this song should and will be used throughout the year to help us express these deep and real longings of the human spirit for God to break in and break through. Learn More

Artist Heatherlyn builds on the well known hymn "Be Thou My Vision" by adding a chorus which is a prayer for spiritual vision and commitment to truth, justice, and love. A great way to honor the traditional hymn with a fresh twist. Learn More